FINDSTR

Search for strings in files.

Syntax
FINDSTR [options] [/F:file] [/C:string] [/G:file] [string(s)] [pathname(s)]
Key
string Text to search for.
pathname(s) The file(s) to search.
/C:string Use string as a literal search string.
/G:file Get search string from a file (/ stands for console).
/F:file Get a list of pathname(s) from a file (/ stands for console).
/d dirlist Search a comma-delimited list of directories.
options may be any combination of the following switches:
/I Case-insensitive search.
/S Search subfolders.
/P Skip any file that contains non-printable characters
/L Use search string(s) literally.
/R Use search string(s) as regular expressions.(default)
/B Match pattern if at the Beginning of a line.
/E Match pattern if at the END of a line.
/X Print lines that match exactly.
/V Print only lines that do NOT contain a match. /N Print the line number before each line that matches.
/M Print only the filename if a file contains a match.
/O Print character offset before each matching line.
/a color_attribute Display filenames in color (2 hex digits)
Options in bold are new in Windows 2000

When the search string contains multiple words (separated with spaces) then
FINDSTR will show show lines that contains any one word - (an OR of each word) -
this behaviour is reversed if the string argument is prefixed with /C.

Regular Expressions
(Searching for patterns of text)

The FINDSTR syntax notation can use the following metacharacters which have
special meaning either as an operator or delimiter.

. Wildcard: any character
* Repeat: zero or more occurances of previous character or class
^ Line position: beginning of line
$ Line position: end of line
[class] Character class: any one character in set
[^class] Inverse class: any one character not in set
[x-y] Range: any characters within the specified range
\x Escape: literal use of metacharacter x
\<xyz Word position: beginning of
xyz\> Word position: end of word

Metacharacters are most powerful when they are used together. For example, the
combination of the wildcard character (.) and repeat (*) character is similar in
effect to the filename wildcard (*.*)

.* Match any string of characters

The .* expression may be useful within a larger expression, for example f.*ing
will match any string beginning with F and ending with ing.

Search for "granny Smith" in MyFile.txt FINDSTR /C:"granny Smith" MyFile.txt
This is effectively the same as the FIND command.

To search every file in the current folder and all subfolders for the word
"Smith", regardless of upper/lower case, use:
FINDSTR /s /i smith *.*
Note that /S will only search below the current directory

To find every line containing the word SMITH, preceeded by any number of spaces,
and to prefix each line found with a consecutive number:
FINDSTR /b /n /c:" *smith" MyFile.txt

Finding a string only if surrounded by the standard
delimiters
To find the word "computer", but not the words "supercomputer" or "computerise":
FINDSTR "\<computer\>" MyFile.txt

Now assume you want to find not only the word "computer", but also any other
words that begin with the letters comp, such as "computerise" or "compete"

Bugs
In early versions of FindStr /F:file a path length of more than 80 chars
will be truncated.

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from
the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
Discover." - Mark Twain